what impact does the missouri compromise and the compromise of 1850 have on both the north and the south!?
how did they contribute to the beginning of the civil war!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>History> Missouri compromise and the compromise of 1850 HELP!!!?Question: Missouri compromise and the compromise of 1850 HELP!!!!? what impact does the missouri compromise and the compromise of 1850 have on both the north and the south!?
how did they contribute to the beginning of the civil war!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Missouri was somewhat controversial because it was immediately adjacent to Illinois, which had been a part of the old Northwest Territory, where slavery had been prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance!. The abolitionists thought to argue that slavery was a geographical issue, in short, most of Missouri was north of an imaginary line crossing the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Ohio, and since all slavery was prohibited north of the Ohio, this should be applied as the nation moved west!. Slaveholders thought otherwise, and many of the people who had settled Missouri were slaveholders, either of English or French ancestry!. The compromise sought to establish a rule where slave and free states could maintain parity as they moved west!. In the case of Missouri, it was admitted as a slave state, and Maine, (oddly enough a part of Massachusetts at one time, and the constitution prohibits states from being created from other states) was admitted as a free state!. The balance was maintained through the 1820s, 30s and 40s!. California proved to be a problem!. It was added to the territory of the US in January of 1848 and only 2 years later ready to become a state, because of a huge rush of people who moved there for gold!. The wealth of the state, plus the quality of the soil, the long growing season and the territory made it a tempting target to both sides!. What they finally worked out was that California would be admitted as a free state, the Fugitive Slave law would be altered to override a free state's sovereignty in granting sanctuary to a runaway slave, and force the state to return the fugitive to their owner, and the slave trade would be outlawed in the District of Columbia, as long as Maryland, who had donated the land for the district, would consent!. The two compromises signify a different aspect of the conflict between slavery and freedom!. In 1821, there was a great deal of territory left to be claimed in the west, Missouri was only the second state formed from the Louisiana Purchase, and there was more room for negotiation!. By 1850, the territories were divided up, for the most part, at least those that were really considered valuable!. So much of the Great Plains was still called the Great American Desert, pretty ironic today with so much land underwater!. There was less wiggle room for negotiators!. The abolitionist movement had grown and strengthened since 1821, when it was just a small movement limited to Quakers and a few clergymen!. The slaveholders felt greater pressure, and this only increased over the next few years with the conflict in Kansas, the raid on Harper's Ferry(1859) and the creation of the Republican party(1856)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |